


The End is the Beginning

by Lexi_the_dragon_muse



Series: Out of chaos, comes order [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Captain America: The Winter Soldier Spoilers, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 05:06:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1456597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lexi_the_dragon_muse/pseuds/Lexi_the_dragon_muse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When the world turned upside down, Pepper Potts was prepared.  She of all people knew that the end of one thing meant that something else was beginning.  The only question is how she will handle that new beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End is the Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> So, after watching CA: TWS, this little plot bunny went rabid and would not leave me alone. This takes place immediately after the movie, so if you haven't watched it, please do not let me spoil it for you! This is the start of a series that will eventually introduce an OFC that has been taking over my brain for the last several months, but I could never figure out what to do with her. 
> 
> I currently do not have a beta, so all mistakes are my own! Please let me know if there is anything glaringly wrong with it.
> 
> The series title is a quote by Friedrich Nietzsche and the story title comes from a song by the Smashing Pumpkins.
> 
> I hope y'all enjoy!!!

Virginia “Pepper” Potts was one of the most organized people in the world.  When she had worked as a personal assistant to Tony Stark, she gained another skill.  The ability to plan for every single contingency.  When Tony made her the of CEO of Stark Industries, she put those two skills to use methodically, predicting the unpredictable when it came to Tony and running a Fortune 500 corporation with an efficiency that made her competitors weep.

 

So, when in the span of two days the world changed, she was ready.  Even as Tony was panicking.  “But Pepper!  We were working for HYDRA!  Hydra, Pepper!!!”  Twenty minutes after the spectacular, Technicolor collapse of S.H.I.E.L.D., she pulled out an eye’s only memo and called for a press conference.  She only needed to change the wording around a bit to make it work for this situation.  As the press buzzed around, she calmly waited off to the side to ensure that everyone had arrived.  She unconsciously tugged on the tailored black jacket of what she referred to as her press suit.  It was serious, but when livened up with the green silk shirt Tony gave her for Christmas (after the whole debacle with the giant bunny), it gave her confidence an extra push.

 

Once the doors closed behind the last stragglers, Pepper stepped into the spotlight, nary a hair out of place.  “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.  May I have your attention?”  It took a few seconds for silence to fall.  “As you have become aware, S.H.I.E.L.D. is no more.  To rest everyone’s fears, the Avengers Initiative has not been a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. for six months.  S.H.I.E.L.D.’s former director, Nicholas Fury, who was killed during Hydra’s attempt to take over the organization, was suspicious of some of the agency’s activities and handed over control of the Avengers to Stark Industries prior to all of this coming to light.  I am here to rest your fears that the Avengers are nothing more than a front for this organization hell bent for world domination.  The Avengers are not answerable to any one government.  The Avengers are here to deal with threats that normal capable militaries are not capable of.  However, that being said, the Avengers will take great interest in the downfall of Hydra and should their help be asked for, they will not immediately say no.  All I ask is for you the press to give the Avengers a few days to come to terms with the multiple deaths of good people, good agents who worked tirelessly to prevent this takeover.  Every life lost hurts.  No matter how small.  Any questions?”

 

As she had expected, multiple hands shot up and multiple voice shouted out questions.  Without hesitation she pointed to Christine Everhart first.  “Ms. Everhart.”

 

“Ms. Potts,” the blonde began, “With the obvious corruption coming to light in an organization such as S.H.I.E.L.D., how will Stark Industries respond?”

 

“We are currently doing an in depth look at all of our employees.  Traitors will not be tolerated.  With that in mind, to any Stark employees listening to this, if your loyalty lies with Hydra it would be in your best interest to tender your resignation.  If not, Stark Industries will share any relevant information of people involved with this terrorist organization with the appropriate authorities.”  She pointed to another man.  “Next question?”

 

“Is Stark Industries going to finance the Avengers?  If so, how does this affect Mr. Stark’s ban on building weapons.”

 

Pepper raised an eyebrow.  “Mr. Stark will be working closely with each Avenger to make sure that their gear was not compromised by Hydra and what he chooses to do with his personal time and money is none of the press’ business.  Stark Industries will not begin to make weapons, however we will be looking into ways we can help with cyber defenses in this ever expanding digital world.”

 

“Where are the Avengers now?  Why are they not dealing with this problem,” one woman’s voice rose over the murmuring. 

 

Pepper held back a growl of frustration.  If there was anything she hated more than anything it was people who wanted to place their responsibility on someone else.  That in mind, she didn’t hold back in her response.  “This is not a problem that the Avengers can fix.  This is a problem caused by corruption.  The Avengers are here to deal with problems on a global scale, like an alien attack in New York City.  They are not here to be the world’s police.  It is time for the world to stop looking for someone to fix it and begin to fix it themselves.  That is all for the questions,” she finished angrily before turning and walking out of the room, barely keeping herself from flipping the press off.

 

She closed her eyes on the elevator ride up to her office, breathing evenly to cool her temper.  When she got to her floor, she was finally beginning to calm down only to discover her personal assistant’s desk empty.  “Jarvis?  Where is Janine?”

 

“I regret to inform you, Miss Potts, Janine Harrison has tendered her resignation and removed all personal items from the building.”

 

Pepper exhaled heavily as she pinched her nose.  “Thank you, Jarvis.  Can you please initialize an extensive background check on her?  Pass any relevant on to the authorities.  And get me Darcy Lewis on the phone.  I don’t trust anyone that the admin department will send up until all of the background checks come back.”

 

“I already anticipated the request and Miss Lewis stated she would be right up after she made sure that Mr. Stark was not going to descend into evil villainy.”

 

Pepper smiled.  She would practically hear the quotes around his phrase.  “Thank you.  Please hold all of my calls until she gets here.”  She shrugged out of her jacket, hanging it carefully on the hanger on her door before settling in her desk chair.

 

“Of course, Miss Potts.”

 

Pepper breathed a sigh of relief as she finally had time to process everything that had happened over the course of forty-eight hour timespan.  When Nick Fury had arranged the clandestine meeting right after the invasion of London, she knew that there was more going on than he was letting on.  Especially when he told her that she needed to make sure that Stark Industries assumed control of the Avengers.  It didn’t mean any immediate changes, he said.  The Avengers would still operate as if they were part of S.H.I.E.L.D., but he warned her that changes were coming before handing her the multiple documents she would need in order to ensure that the Avengers, at least, were seen as a force of good.  She had pressed the man for more, but his eye just twitched and he clammed up.  Looking back, she wondered how long he had known that there was that level of corruption in the organization and how many contingency plans that he had set up to help ensure that Earth’s only defense against the other more technologically advanced worlds would still be able to function. 

 

She sighed as she leaned back in the chair and thought about the changes that were now coming to light.  S.H.I.E.L.D. had been the eyes and ears for potential threats and with that gone, she knew that the remaining agents that were not Hydra would be looking for new jobs.  She had already composed a memo for the S.I. human resources department.  Just because they were previously an agent, it didn’t mean that they would be turned away.  Instead, she worked with Jarvis to create an intensive background search for each potential employee, one that would try to root out any potential spies.  She knew that it was a start, but it wasn’t nearly good enough.  She needed to find out if there were any high-level agents left that were not compromised so that she could have insight into the candidates.

 

Her train of thought was interrupted by the whirling dervish that was Darcy Lewis.  “Hey, Pepper!” the buxom brunette greeted her.  “Heard the last assistant cut and run.  Couldn’t deal with the crazy or secretly Hydra?”

 

Pepper shrugged.  “My money’s on Hydra.  So, can you help me out until we can clear another assistant to work with me?”  She motioned to the small couch in the sitting area of her office.

 

Darcy quickly settled onto the couch, somehow looking at home in her jeans, sweater and beat up pair of Doc’s.  “Of course!  It’ll be like a vacation from wrangling the scientist’s three,” she responded with a laugh. 

 

Pepper groaned.  “Tony’s going to fall back into old habits.  He’s not entirely happy with me right now since I never told him about the control of the Avengers falling to S.I.  Still, I’m glad that we are in charge of this and not anyone else.  That was the one worry that I could finagle out of Fury.  He was worried about what might happen if someone with less ethics would do if they were in charge.  No matter how many times that I told him that the Avengers would not stand for that…” she trailed off.

 

Darcy laughed.  “I know, right?  It’s not like Captain America is going to knowingly work for someone that what was not on the up-and-up.  Shit, he freakin’ took down S.H.I.E.L.D.”

 

“True.”

 

Darcy looked around the office.  “So, what do you need me to do right now, temporary boss-lady.”

 

Pepper smiled.  She knew that a gift it was that Darcy was calling her that.  It was her favorite nickname for Jane Foster.  “The next few months are going to be going to be nothing short of semi-organized chaos.  The Avengers are now without a support team and we need to come up with some sort of organization that will allow them to continue to get intelligence.  And, since Natasha released all of S.H.I.E.LD.’s dirty laundry online, there are going to be some hard questions coming.  This was actually one thing I wanted to talk to you about.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because you have your master’s in political science.  I’m assuming that your classes included those on political theories when it came to campaign management, which means dealing with the press and general public.  I want you to take point on that.  Once I’ve vetted the P.R. department, I will get with them to see what kind of support staff that I can give you, but I want you to be the public face of the Avengers.”

 

Darcy looked gob smacked and uncharacteristically lost for words.  “What about Jane, Bruce and Tony?” she finally managed to ask.

 

“We have Jarvis and the bots.  I’m sure that we can find _someone_ in this company that can at least attempt to live up to your high standards.”  They both laughed before Pepper’s expression turned serious.  “Look, I know that I’m asking a lot of you, but there are very few people I trust.  Actually, there are only nine people that I trust right now and you are one of them.  So, are you in?”

 

Darcy sighed before nodding.  “Yes, but I’m not leaving Jane to her own devices yet.  She doesn’t listen to Jarvis half the time, but if Thor shows back up after dealing with whatever in the hell is going on in Asgard, he will at least ensure that she eats and showers on a regular basis.”

 

“What’s the likelihood that he will be back any time soon?”

 

“I don’t know.  After London, it looked like he was here for the long haul, but after the last communication he had, I think it’s something serious.  Until there is a serious planet wide threat or a direct threat to Jane, I wouldn’t expect him to show.”

 

“Okay.  Give me your thoughts on how we should proceed from here.”

 

Darcy cocked her head, her face serious.  “Well, we need to regroup, I think.  We need to talk to the entire team to see how the outing of S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets is going to affect everyone.  I mean, Clint and Natasha were covert agents.  Obviously, when Natasha sent out all of that information, all of their aliases were compromised.  Where the hell is Clint anyway?  I haven’t seen him in the tower for months.”

 

“Long term assignment somewhere in South America.  Anything more than that, I don’t know.”

 

“I would start with finding him, making sure that he is okay or if his operation has been compromised.  If it has been compromised, then how likely it is that he might need help?”

 

“Good point.”

 

“Start thinking along those lines.  The first order of business is to make sure that the team is okay.  Hydra being in control of S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to have unseen consequences.”

 

“Pardon me, Miss Potts,” Jarvis said, somehow radiating regret.  “I believe there is something you should be aware of.”

 

“Go ahead, Jarvis.”

 

“I have been monitoring all incoming applications for employment and a name raised a flag.  Maria Hill is currently in the human resources department submitting her application.”

 

Pepper settled back in her chair.  “Well.  That is interesting.”

 

Darcy laughed.  “We live in interesting times, boss-lady.  How do you want to proceed?”

 

“Let her apply and see if you can get Steve on the phone for me.  He will know whether or not he can be trusted.”

 

“Right-oh.  Time for me to begin being your temporary assistant.  Go Pepper.  Start working your magic and with everyone’s help, we will survive this tumultuous time.”  With those words, Darcy got up and walked out of the office, closing the door behind her.

 

Pepper smiled as she rose from the couch, finally feeling the knot in her chest ease just a bit.  _We will survive.  We will overcome this,_ she thought as she walked to her desk and prepared to go to war.

**Author's Note:**

> So, what did y'all think? The next story will be from Maria Hill's POV, so stay tuned!


End file.
